Apolo-Ghee-s

Hey peeps, how have you been? I hope you had a good Easter Sunday. We had a really long weekend. H had 5-day weekend, including saturday and sunday, so we had some really great time together. A, F, H and I went outside Luanda for a day trip to visit a cheese and yogurt farm. We went further than we’re supposed to, but the greeneries were so inviting that we couldn’t help it.

One thing not so good, I had been out of internet for a week. In fact, most of guest houses were without internet (some without TV). Probably someone didn’t make the payment. But what was going to be a bleak long weekend turned out to be a busy one. We had an impromptu BBQ over at E’s place. For the first time in my life, I tried a lavender marinated meat. It was so fragrant when the meat was roasting over fire that I didn’t mind being chef-on-duty. This lavender spice mix is going to be on my buy-list.

Anyway, back to cooking and stuff, I decided to try making ghee myself. I refused to pay 25 USD for a tub (1kg) of Ghee imported from India. I suppose if you cook a lot with ghee, that’s fine. But I don’t and I actually look forward to the challenge. If you don’t know yet, ghee is clarified butter that’s commonly used in Indian cooking. It is claimed to have a subtle nutty flavor and enticing aroma. I said “claim” because I couldn’t taste the difference, however the aroma is really great. It smells like melted butter. Well, it is! It is said that the best ghee is made of cultured butter that has been fermented. Ghee also has higher burning point, so it is appropriate for deep frying.

It was surprisingly easy to make. It involved butter and some good time standing by the stove skimming off the froth and milk solids. Try having a ghee and if it is worth your time, make it. I followed the tips from Flavor Fiesta.

Using a nonstick sauce pan or pot, melt the butter over low-medium heat. When foam starts to appear, skim off the foam & the milk solids using slotted spoon or normal spoon.

Continue to skim off until what is left is clarified oil.

Tips:
~ Instead of low heat, I made mine over low-medium fire to make the foam appears just a tad faster. My electric stove has heat option from 0 to 9, I used heat #4.
~ I worked with slotted spoon and paper towel. I wiped the spoon after I throw away the froth each time. Higher efficiency, I suppose.
~ Once I have removed most of the foam, I lowered the heat to #1, to prevent burning smell.
~ All in all, I spent close to 40 mins fishing out the milk solids & froth before I finally switch off the heat completely.
~ 250 gr butter makes 200 ml ghee.